With the midterms fastly approaching, Addison was naturally more stressed out than usual. These were often complex exams that rarely focused on work that they actually did in class. For the most part, many of the exams that they took liked to focus on using the knowledge in different ways. If the exam utilized very little magic, she would be able to fly right through it. But, when it came to practical exams, she would really have to concentrate hard. As it was, her concentration wasn't exactly the best, especially when focusing on a certain handsome seventh year.[1]

Because of the impending mental exercises, Addison was naturally cooped up in the library to study. Aside from certain branches of muggle education, she rather enjoyed studying. It kept her mind occupied, and it was rather relaxing to her. At the very least, that was what she felt. It certainly helped if she was interested in what she was doing, like she had been with her Ancient Runes project.[2] There were a few subjects that bored her, and she had to try hard to maintain her concentration.

Addison's studying habits were strange as it was. When she studied, she often times wrote little comments to herself on her notes and any submitted work. Her work was, as usual, organized. Despite her best attempts at budgeting time to study for her different classes, she often times found herself studying the same subject for hours. This normally happened, when she knew that she had to study for a boring class like History of Magic, or a complex one like Transfiguration.

Sitting at a table in the library by herself, Addison[3] took out her Charms notes and book. Placing them neatly on the table, she then took out an inkwell from her bag. Then, she started to look for a quill, but couldn't find one. "Bloody hell, I could've sworn that I put a quill in here," she muttered to herself as she looked. Even the pencil that she used for her art was missing. "Merlin, I knew that I took one..." she trailed off as she searched her bag.

1.	Charms Extra Credit
2.	Ancient Runes
3.	outfit

Gideon walked into the library, he'd just managed to escape his idiot brother in the hallway talking to someone about a date to the Yule Ball.  He needed one too, but he was only fourteen, he would be better off going with a friend/acquaintance.  He slung his bag over one shoulder, his wand sticking out of it and walked towards a table in the back.  He wasn't like most of the other students that were studying their heads off for midterms, but since he studied all the time, and was always reading, it was hard to break the habit of coming into the library whenever he had a spare moment.

He spotted Addison at a table and she seemed to be searching in her bag for something and rerouted himself so that he was walking towards her instead.  "You need a study partner?" he asked, unsure of how to start the conversation that was forming inside his head.  She would be an ideal date to the ball, even if he didn't know her that well.  He sat down across from her at the table and noticed that her charms book was out, "Studying Charms?"

Then he shook his head, of course she was studying charms, why would the book be on the table in front of her if she wasn't. He took a notebook out of his bag and a pen and then looked at all the books in his bag to try and decide which one to go over first.  He'd read them all, but rarely took notes.  Randomly picking a book and pulling it out of his bag that he now placed on the seat beside him, he sat it on the table, looking and noticing that he'd pulled out his Potions book and grimaced - - he hated potions.[1]

1.	what he's wearing

The Ravenclaw continued to fumble through the contents of her bag, looking for a darn quill. She normally wasn't this unprepared for doing any work as it was, even with working on work that wasn't exactly her most favorite thing to do. Nevertheless, the fourth year was going to study if she was fully prepared or not. After searching her bag yet again, she figured that it would be best to just quit looking. There was no way that she was going to find it at this rate...

Before she could fully give up, Gideon was approaching her. Addison looked up when she noticed him, and smiled at his greeting. "Hi Gideon. Yeah, sure, you're more than welcome to," she greeted him, while pushing her bag out of the way when she noticed that she was taking up way too much room. While they didn't know each other too well, they still saw each other frequently in the library like this. "Um, yes, I was actually just about to ...." she trailed off as her eyes diverted to her bag on the table, "By any chance, do you have a spare quill or something to write with?" It was an odd request coming from her, but it was a necessity at this point, with midterms coming and her being so unprepared.

Since midterms were coming up, Addison wasn't entirely focused on finding a date to the Yule Ball. She would much rather spend her time studying to earn that perfect grade that she was desiring. It wasn't that she wasn't hoping for a date, it was just that she was so used to being ignored by the male population, in her opinion. As it was, she was already able to buy a dress last week during the Hogsmeade weekend, along with her shoes.

As Gideon made himself comfortable at the table he answered her, "Yeah sure, I always carry extras cause I'm in here so much." was his reply and he opened his bag and pulled a pen out and handed it to her.  "I'm sorry, I don't use quills when I'm studying, it uses up too much ink and I like to save those for when professors are watching me." 

He didn't want to try to use a pen in class because he wasn't sure he could keep up with the note-taking  as well.  He'd practiced taking notes with a quill before Hogwarts and wrote faster than he did with a pen, something about it was easier, but when he was studying on his own, he still preferred a good, old, muggle ink pen.

"So, are you going to the ball?" Gideon asked her out of the blue.  He didn't know why he did, maybe it was the urge to get something before his brother did for a change and since he'd just heard Trystan talking to someone about not having a date yet, this would be perfect. 

Addison smiled and nodded to what Gideon said to her, accepting the pen that was handed her way. "Thank you. I know what you mean, I am still uncomfortable using a quill. I usually like to use a pen or a pencil, rather than the quill. But, I would rather not get yelled at for not using the quill," she responded with a nod. Being a muggleborn, she was rather used to using pens and pencils and not quills for writing. It was certainly a different experience.

Turning her gaze back down to the notes and book that she had laid on the table previously, she turned the book open to a page on the banishment charm that they had worked on in October. Flipping through her pages of notes, she stopped at the ones for the banishing spells, which were of the few that she took before chaos errupted in that classroom.

Before Addison had a chance to focus on the work at hand, Gideon asked her about the ball. Looking up, she nodded in response to his question. "Yes, I intend to go to the ball, with a date or without a date. I already picked out a lovely dress and an equally lovely pair of heels for the evening. I certainly hope that you are intending on attending the ball?" she asked him with a smile.

"I was planning on it, but I'd like to go with someone instead of by myself." he told her as he flipped through his book to the page he last remembered he was on.  "You wanna go with me?" he asked her kind of fast, as if he wasn't sure if she would say eys or not. 

"I mean, you don't have to, but I'm always being told I need to get out of the library and have a little fun, this could be fun, right?" he asked her with a lopsided smile, he didn't really think it would be fun, but at least it would satisfy his parents that he went.

At Giddeon's words, Addison nodded. "I'm sure you'll find the perfect girl to go with," she responded with a smile. While she would love to have a date to the ball herself, she had already conditioned her mind to believe that none of the boys at the school liked her and resorted to ignore her. She was completely unaware of the fact that someone might want to go with her. It would have been a very strange admission that she would admit to not even matching her own perfect image of a girl that boys actually liked.

"You wanna go with me?"

Addison's eyes opened wide at the question. That very question that she wasn't expecting anyone to ask her. 'Is Gideon really asking me?' she thought immediately after the question. She quickly looked behind herself, thinking there was a prettier girl behind her that he was asking. But, there was no one behind her. 'He must be asking me ... Me, of all the other girls in the castle. He must not mind going with a nerd like me....'

She couldn't help her cheeks blushing lightly. "I ... um ... ah ...," she stammered awkwardly at first. "Sure ... yeah, I'll go with you," she responded more coherently, smiling. "Yeah, it might be fun," she responded believably.

"That's cool, um, just let me know where to meet up with you before we go in." he told her and then went back to work.  That was one of the reasons he'd sat down to talk to her, but now that the question was out of the way he could get back to studying.  He flipped a couple more pages in his book and began to read.

In the mere few moments that Gideon asked her to the dance, Addison wanted to jump out of her seat announcing in amazement the prospect that she was attending the ball with a fellow fourth year. Ok, she didn't exactly want to do that. It was more like she wanted to start giggling hysterically, gossiping about the night. But, there were two main problems with that. First, she was in the library, and shouldn't be making too much noise as it was. Second, she would probably scare off Gideon from going with her. For that matter, she wasn't with one of the girls that she talked to from her year. There would be plenty of time for that later, in her dorm room.

At Gideon's next words to her, Addison nodded. Indeed, that was going to be a very essential piece to the night. "Um, isn't Ravenclaw tower and Gryffindor tower not too far away from each other? From what I could fathom ... Anyway, maybe somewhere close to both towers?" she asked him, as her cheeks slowly returned to normal. Letting her eyes drift down to the Charms book in front of her, she figured that she now had other things to worry about in addition to it. Even though her eyes were looking at the book, she wasn't really reading like Gideon started doing. Even though she was a nerd, she was still a girl. Displays of social interaction would always excite her more than what she would be doing at any given moment.

It took a minute, but Gideon finally looked up from his book to look at Addison, "Yeah, that would be perfect." he didn't go right back to his book though, "You know, we may not know each other that well, but you're alright." he gave her a half smile and then went back to his reading.  He was telling the truth, he liked the way she was quiet the few times they'd studied together and if she asked a question, she'd always let him finish what he was doing before pestering him about an answer.  Why couldn't more girls be like her?

Gideon shook his head slightly to rid himself of that thought.  Addison was just an acquaintance, he didn't have time for friends.  If he did, she would probably be one of them.  He wrote another line down on his notes and looked up at her briefly before going back to studying.

Addison's eyes stared blankly at the page in the Charm's book in front of her, as she awaited her fellow fourth year's response. She found that Gideon was rather nice to her, but he seemed to enjoy studying even more than how much she enjoyed it. Even though she was social at Hogwarts, she noticed that Gideon didn't run into social situations instinctively. While she didn't want to appear too pushy, she would attempt to encourage Gideon to attend social situations. It was a nice change that he seemed willing to ask her to the Yule Ball, and it didn't appear like he had too much trouble even posing the question to her. At any rate, he was a good study buddy to have, especially with how anxious and nervous she would eventually become due to the midterms.

"Great," Addison responded, beaming. Even in that Extra Credit session hosted by Professor Kesali, her awkward behavior was initiated by her pleasure of being noticed by a seventh year. In this case, Gideon asked her to the ball. For a girl her age, this was certainly a big deal, especially for a girl that wasn't exactly courting boys to ask them to the ball. Then, Gideon complimented her. "T-thanks. I think you're great!" she awkwardly responded to him. Turning her eyes back down to the book in embarrassment, she wrote a quick note on the sheet of parchment. Her handwriting was shaky, not the neat penmanship that she usually exhibited.

Gideon looked up at her last comment only to see her look back at her book quickly.  Feeling awkward he gave her sort of an answer, "Er... thanks." he said.  He wasn't sure what to say to that, Gideon didn't even look at girls differently yet.  They were good study partners, that's about as far as his mind went.

"How far have you gotten in the Charms book?" Gideon asked her, trying to hold a conversation, something that he'd struggled with since his first year.  "I'm almost at the end." he told her and as he said that he flipped another page. [1]

1.	sorry it's short, I couldn't think of anything else.

Still feeling embarrassed from her awkward comment, Addison continued to read the page in the Charms textbook. Her handwriting was definitely worse than what it usually was, as she wrote another line on the page. Glancing quickly at her writing, she forced her hand to write at least legibly on the page. As she continued onto a third line, she noticed that her writing was at least less messy. But, it still wasn't her neat writing.

She didn't look up or even acknowledge his awkward response to her. Instead, she attempted to focus on actually studying charms, as she began a fourth line on the page. For that matter, she was acting as if she was studying so deeply for a while. But, it was just her embarrassment and awkward behavior. Actually, she didn't look up, until he asked her on her progress in the Charms book. "I have about a third of it left," she responded shyly, looking back down at the page immediately. Her writing continued onto a fifth line.

"Cool, I'm a little past you then," Gideon told her as he put down his quill.  He looked thoughtful for a second before asking, "Addison, do you really want to go with me, or were you hoping someone else asked you?" he was beginning to feel a tad insecure about asking a girl to the ball.  It was completely out of his comfort zone to do so and he wasn't sure if he was going to make it through the days til the ball.

Addison simply nodded at Gideon's confirmation that he was further ahead than her in the Charms book. There were other things to worry about more, than whether or not Gideon was further ahead than her. For example, she had to worry about her consistent awkwardness, especially now after Gideon had asked her to the Yule Ball. Even though it was still a week away, she wanted to make sure that Gideon had fun at the ball with her, which she wouldn't be able to do if she consistently shied away or acted awkward.

But, that awkwardness only appeared to want to continue on.

"Addison, do you really want to go with me, or were you hoping someone else asked you?"

Once Gideon began his question, Addison's face turned bright red once again. "I ... um ... I - I," she stammered, not really sure on what to say. Letting out a sigh, she knew that she would have to at least try not to act as awkward around him. Certainly, stuttering and stammering wasn't about to help with that. "Of course I really do want to go with you Gideon, and I'm very flattered that you're willing to go with me. If you didn't ask me, I was already considering to ask you myself. But, I'm glad you did," she offered to him with a genuine smile.